Squad 403: The Ascetic (remastered) Part 3 of 5
Look everyone! Up in the Sky! It's a bird! No It's a plane! No! It's A new Dannoh403 story! YAAAAY Chapter 1 I lean my head against the back of the pelican dropship. "We've been flying aimlessly for how long?" Spartan Andrew-908 asks me from the other side of the ship. "Lost count," Nikki mutters without looking up from her tablet. I glance at the rest of my official Squad. All of them are strapped into the seats, medical tools barely keeping them alive. Nikki glances up from her tablet, and somehow can read my expression, through my helmet. "I think I know how to save them," she says, "But it's risky." I stand up instantly, "How?" I say immediately. "Well, the covies have a sort of plant they grow, they use in medicine that heals plasma wounds, in case of friendly fire. We have all the required ingredients on a standard UNSC frigate, but we need that plant." "And just how do we get it?" AK asks, cleaning his rifle. "Well, I believe we have a very damaged covenant cruiser in close proximity, that most likely has heaps of the stuff." By now, Eden has already turned the pelican around towards the cruiser. AK stands and slaps a clip into his SAW machine gun. "Let's go get that plant." Chapter 2 Almost all of the guns have been destroyed or damaged. Luckily The covies also accept our white flag of surrender. Eden's faultless flying lands us easily on the charred and burned cruiser. Immediately, an elite in white armor disarms me and cuffs me. I say into my helmet COM, "Go dark now, Sweep the ship, get that plant, and get. out," "Sir yes sir," they all say. We all know I'm being dragged off to my death. But atleast the others have a chance. The elite pushes me into an automatic door that I fall through, and find myself facing an entire room of elites, all facing a dias. On this dias, kneeling, is the Ascetic. I don't understand until I see the higher ranking elite standing next to him, preparing to chop off his head. This is an execution. Short little Extra (Ascetic's POV) I look into the Ship Master's eyes, knowing they will be the last sight I see. "Erak' Neros'" he bellows, "You have been deemed guilty of failure and heresy. Do you accept these charges?" I bow my head in despair, better to die feeling relieved than live a liar, "Yes, I plea gulity. I accept the charges." "I honor your courage, but your rank shall be stripped. And you shall be executed for your failure." He replies. for some reason he sounds genuinely saddened. I have no idea why. I myself am discussed with my failure to kill that Demon. Almost getting this mighty vessel, The Glorious Ascension, destroyed. Damaged. Crippled. This failure allowed the Ship Master to outrank me now. He raises the blade high above his head. I wait for the heat, the pain, and the horrors of repaying my debts to begin. That's when the door slides open and the demon himself stumbles through in shackles. Chapter....4? Alex's POV The Ascetic stares deeply into my eyes. I stare into his through my visor. The Ship Master stops the blade almost an inch from my neck. He points it at the demon and says, "Why is this abomination, ruining this place with his presence?" "He flew a small ship here, your majesty," says the elite beside me, "I brought him to you. Do as you please." The elite he addressed as majesty picks up a carbine off the ground. He calmly raises it and fires at me. No, not me. The shot plants itself in my escorts head, blowing it in half. "Let this be a lesson," he says, "To anyone who shall disrupt this ceremony." I need to distract all of the troops, get them all off security. I stand up and force off the energy bonds. "I am here to challenge you," I say bravely. Will the Elite shoot me like the already dead elite beside me? Or accept my challenge to a fight? "How, So?" He says. His pompous honor must've won over. I think for a second. "Sword play," I say, "All I need is a sword." A blade is passed to me. I know a little about them, so I activate it with some difficulty, It fits my hand fine, strange. The blade springs to life, as does the Ship Master's. He bellows a war cry and charges at me. I charge at him. We both swing our blades, and they clash in a shower of sparks. Chapter 5: Alex's POV (I guess that's kinda redundant at this point, huh?) I jump back as the sparks singe my shields. I admit, I've had some training with the sword, but not much. Obviously, the Ship Master has had more training than me. I'm barely keeping myself alive. I dodge his strike and attempt to land my own. No dice. He effortlessly sidesteps and slices the blade across my chest. It cleaves through my shields like butter. I fall backward, a move that saves me from the small energy dagger he activated. He stands over me and begins to bring down the blade. I move and the blade lands where my head was a second ago. I kick him in his ugly face and throw myself into the air. The Ship Master stumbles back, giving me a second to attack. I, like an idiot, take the chance. Why was it a dumb move? Because you don't attack an enemy first chance you get. You wait until they can't fight back. I forgot this one, simple rule. As he spins and stabs me with the dagger, I notice something on his face, something that resembles, a smile. The heat from the blade travels through me, as does the pain. He looks directly into my eyes, his eyes as sharp as the dagger in my stomach. My eyes sting from the pain. All I know is that I have to bring down this elite. I thrust forward the blade, praying for a hit. My prayers are answered. When I finally open my eyes, I see my sword, stabbed into his chest, up to the hilt. A look of suprise contorts his face. The energy dagger deactivates; the light in his eyes dies, as does he. He slowly falls over, dying on the ground. And I'm left standing in a room, with an army of elites looking directly at me. With nothing but a dead elite and an energy sword. They begin to fire, when my pelican explodes out of the wall, and all heck breaks loose. Chapter 6: Can you guess who's POV it is? RIGHT! It's Alex's POV The elites scramble around the room as the Pelican's autocannon tears the unlucky ones to shreds. I look up desperately, hoping they get the message that I'm wounded. Apparently, they do, because it sweeps low and the back hatch opens. Nikki and AK stand on the back, supressing fire. Ak holds his SAW, Nikki fires an SMG. I catch a glimpse of the Ascetic, rising. He roars in anger and throws a downed elite's plasma rifle at the pelican. Nikki catches it without stopping and fires both at once. By now, I'm to the pelican. AK tosses me into the troop bay and we close the hatch. "Did you....get....the plant?" I manage, before they can answer, I pass out. Chapter 7: I'm not even going to tell you the POV anymore. It's unspoken. (One week later) I stand over the stolen energy sword. I reflect on the past events, killing the Ship Master, barely escaping with my life, the pelican landing on the UNSC Philadelphia. Then my team and me, slowly recovering from our wounds, thanks to the works of Nikki, AK, and Skye stealing the healing plant. I kept the energy sword, but the battery was so low from that one fight that I had to find some way to charge it. The technicans aboard thought it would be a good idea to link it to my armors power supply. So as I link the energy module to my power source, an explosion blows me back. "Ow," I mutter. Then I notice the sword, glowing with a strange yellow color than the usual blue. I hold the blade. One of the nearby marines mutters, "Something that crazy needs a name, to distuinguish it." As I think, a small spark jumps off the blade. In reaction, my pulse quickens to alertness. My....pulse. Pulse. That's perfect. Pulse. Epilogue I dodge the holographic training elite's strike. It's been what, 10 minutes? I kick him in the hand and his sword flies into the air. He steps on my foot and I stumble. The elite reaches and catches his sword. He takes a stab, which I dodge, and I grab his wrist. I spin him around and kick him in the back of the leg. With one smooth arc of my blade, the hologram disappears. "Impressive," a voice says from the edge of the room. I look over and find myself looking at Ryan, still a bit weak. "Is that sarcastic?" "Suprisingly, no," He says, using his shotgun as a crutch. "Seeing as how you were layed up just a week ago." I wipe the sweat off my forehead, "And you're walking, and you were half-dead yesterday. I'd say that's pretty impressive." "I aim to please. Where'd you get the yellow energy sword?" "I got it from a covenant cruiser, while you were passed out," I answer, "I plan to use it to kill the Ascetic." "Sounds like a plan," he scoffs. "Not time for that yet, though," I say, "Come on, there are some people here I want you to meet, I'm thinking of recruiting them." Ascetic "Erak' Neros" POV I sit in my chamber. Turns out that the Ship Master never took away my rank, meaning I was still an Ascetic, and the highest rank on board. The ship was mine. The door slides open silently. A group of Zealot elites walk in, carrying weapons. They bow and the leader says to me, "My lord, We answered your call, What do you need?" "I need someone to die, and your going to bring him to me." Category:Army Category:Action Category:Sci-Fi Category:Completed Category:Halo